One of us
by Devonnie
Summary: Hermione Granger has been married to the love of her life for nearly five years. And it has been almost seven since Ronald Weasley had spoken to the love of his. What went wrong? How did they end up married to different people?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The day was sunny and the London's most popular flea market was busy, bursting to the rims with witches and muggles alike. There was an occasional wizard browsing the aisles as well, and on that particular day Ronald Weasley happened to be one of them. Ron was picking out antique-looking silver candleholders for his wife, whose birthday was coming up in a couple of days. Ronald couldn't really tell a silver one from a brass or a simply gray colored metal holder, but he was determined to find some that his wife would approve of. He had a spell handy for when he found something that looked like it could work, to tell whether it was real or not. Ron Weasley's wife was very fond of antique muggle furniture and household appliances. She collected them, and in that found a soul mate of sorts in Ronald's father, Arthur Weasley, who did the same.

Ron was walking up a particularly promising aisle, as he spotted something that looked like a long silver pole, which could potentially turn out to be a candle holder, so he quickened his pace and made a launch for it, at the same time as another hand reached for the same candle holder. Slightly irritated, he let go of it when he saw that the hand was female, for he was of course an aspiring gentleman who strove to be everything a fine lady, such as his wife, could wish for.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, and lifted his eyes up to look the candleholder-stealing woman in the face, and experienced the oddest of shocks as he did so. He was standing face to face with Hermione Granger. A woman he has not seen in over seven years.

The shock was even a bigger one for Hermione. She was not planning on seeing Ron Weasley ever again if she could help it. Not after the way he treated her when she attempted to express her deepest regret over what she had done and salvage their friendship. Ron refused to accept her apology and chose to sever ties with Hermione, rather than adjust to her new position in life. That was seven years ago, when a wicked twist of fate changed the course of their lives forever. A twist that made Ronald Weasley vow to never want to speak to Hermione Granger again and left Harry Potter torn between his two best friends for years to come. And today, by yet another bizarre twist of fate, they met again. It seemed as if some higher power just did not want to let them be in peace, and was determined to keep bringing them together again, and again, and again, for his or her own, cruel amusement. Except that to them, - it wasn't funny.

Having recognized the man in front of her Hermione panicked. She didn't know what to say or do. Her entire body froze up and wouldn't budge an inch. They stood like that for what seemed like ages, looking at anything but each other, yet refusing to move. Finally, as the owner of the cart they stood in front of, coughed subtly but irritably, she was the first to sink out of the trance.

Hermione composed herself, looked Ron in the eyes and cringed apologetically. A large, shiny rock sparkled on her finger as she swept away a lock of brown hair from her cheek. His gaze fixated on it for a second before moving down to her midriff and resting there awhile. Hermione was visibly pregnant, and underneath her satin dress, a perfectly round belly was sticking out, symbolizing Hermione's domestic life, her hopes and dreams and happiness. The cursed baby bump was mocking Ron with its perfection. He knew that her earlier cringe meant only one thing- that she was happy, and she knew that Ron was not, so there it was, an involuntary pity cringe.

What was more, Ron's wife couldn't have kids. A tragic discovery for the clan of baby-loving Weasleys, that occurred a little over a month ago. Harry would have told Hermione by now, so she knew, and Ron resented that. He would never be able to have children, and there was the love of his life, giving that git-husband of hers a child. _Her _child, the child that could have been his...

Ron stared at her and waited for something, he did not know what. His face was screwed up in a scowl and his hands were twisting a piece of metal that had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere, into piece of mush. Neither one was willing to speak. Another moment passed and just as silently and determinedly Ron and Hermione stepped away from the vendor and having shot each other one last glance, promptly turned around and went in opposite directions as fast as Ron's long legs, and Hermione's significantly shorter ones could carry them.

It just so happened that Ron couldn't possibly forgive Hermione for doing something as atrocious as she did. He couldn't forget or forgive the fact that she had married the enemy. Not just an enemy, in fact, but _the_ enemy, none other than Master Draco Abraxas Malfoy, the boy, now the man, whom Ronald Weasley will continue to passionately hate, until the day he dies.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ron walked home slowly, strolling leisurely down his favorite street. Having failed at finding candle holders, he attempted to come up with other gift ideas, but his mind was drawing a stupor-like blank. For a second he even considered going to Borgin and Burkes and browsing their collection of ancient, scary artifacts, before realizing _what_ he was thinking. The truth was that he couldn't focus on anything else but Hermione. The one thing, he really did not want to think about. So he walked and looked around the empty street, hoping to change the trail of his thoughts.

He hated London, but he really liked this street. It was old, and its buildings were ancient, full of history and pain… He could connect with it in a way he could never connect with a human being. It didn't ask him stupid questions or bring up old wounds, it just sat there, sturdy and calm, like an old friend he has come to know and love, ever since his wife has made him move there. He and his wife no longer lived at the Burrow with the rest of the Weasley clan, for as the 'kids' had slowly started getting married and having babies one by one, they could no longer fit into the small and quiet routine of Molly Weasley's life. Seeing as Ron was the last to get married, he was the saddest of all to leave his childhood home, but having no choice, he had followed his wife's family's suggestion to move into the central London, closer to civilization and the muggle world.

Ronald's wife, Gabrielle, was a very beautiful woman, with gorgeous blonde hair, pale green eyes and a figure to die for. Her personality was also a perfect blend of eccentricity and kindness. She called him Ronald, for that was the only way she could pronounce his name without butchering it in her own language and have it still sound English. As he rounded another corner onto a street that he liked much, much less, he saw her pretty head sticking out of their third-story apartment window; as soon as she saw him, she waved, muttering "Ah, Ronald," happily under her breath, before retreating back inside and shutting the pane with a bang. He waved back and forced a smile, although she was already gone, and secretly thought to himself that he should have gone somewhere else to bide the time while his moodiness persisted.

As soon as he made it up the stairs to the third floor, he heard voices inside of their apartment talking loudly in French. His heart leaped as he concluded that his wife's sister must be visiting, and along with her, their little niece, and hopefully Ron's own favorite brother. The family that was responsible for Ronald's fortunate matchmaking in the first place.

He pulled the doorknob and cringed as two gorgeous women descended upon him at once, both talking rapidly to him and to each other, constantly interrupting and raising their voices louder and louder to be heard. In less than an instant after he walked through the door, Fleur was kissing him all over, exclaiming that her brother-in-law was getting thinner and thinner every time she saw him with genuine concern in her sweet voice; and Gabrielle was taking off his shoes and coat, while piercingly contending to her older sister, that she cooked fine food and French cuisine for her husband all the time, so he had no way or reason to get slimmer. Ron took it silently, keeping perfectly still in order to allow the girls the satisfaction of having taken good care of him. Fleur's husband Bill, stood quietly in the living room doorway, smirking warmly at the amusing scene. Chuckling to himself, he decided to rescue his brother from the clutches of their wives, so he slowly walked over to merry threesome. Slapping Ron's back and performing a complicated hand maneuver, he managed to pull him away in less than a second or two. Ron looked at him gratefully and quickly returned his brotherly back slap, before escaping into the wash room under the pretext of cleaning up a bit.

As soon as the door was shut, and he was safely away from the prying eyes, Ron's exhaled deeply and sunk onto the bathroom floor. He felt like train-wreck that had just hit a particularly nasty train. He hated himself for not being able to control these emotions. He wanted above all, to be able to put on a smile and come outside, play with his niece, catch up with his brother, and continue to enjoy his day and his life. If only he could do that. Instead he sat on the bathroom floor and stared at the their plum-colored rug in a rage. There was nothing wrong with his life… he had a great home, a great family, an amazing spouse, and even some friends that he had fun with once in a while… He was making good money working at Gringotts and his wife wrote a column for Witch Weekly, quite successfully he might add. He couldn't complain. It wasn't bad. But it was lacking one thing. One, brown haired, wickedly clever thing. It was lacking Hermione.

He would never admit it, or tell anyone what had really happened that night seven years ago, but in reality Ron blamed himself for allowing it to happen. He blamed himself and cursed the day when Draco Malfoy had found himself alone with her in the forbidden forest. Alone and reckless, high on adrenalin and ready to do anything, absolutely anything to keep that high.


End file.
